Honouring Christ

“We are beset by problems.

Outside the Church is the collapsing nature of society as it abandons its Christian heritage; this impacts families, the workplace, school, and the Church. At its worst is the growing antagonism to Biblical Christianity.

Inside the Church we see the fruit of theological liberalism in false teaching, decline and immorality. Ritualism is now accepted as the norm and much so-called evangelicalism now believes what liberals believed a generation ago.

In the midst of all this how can we honour Christ? …”

– David Phillips, General Secretary of Church Society, writes in the Winter 2010 edition of Cross†Way. (PDF file.)

What would you want on your tombstone?

What is the resurrection to you? What part does it hold in your thinking?

NSW Moderator of The Presbyterian Church, Chris Balzer, wrote this for the Presbyterian magazine, Pulse:

–––––

“A few months ago a friend and I ‘discovered’ the graveyard at Sofala NSW.

From my perspective, the most interesting inscription on a tombstone was this:

The dust of Vestry Walker, who slept in Jesus 28th August 1875, waits here (until) the morning of the first resurrection.

If you call yourself a Christian, would you be pleased at the thought that your relatives might use similar words on your tombstone? I would.

What theological insight those relatives of Vestry Walker had! Can you see the theology?   Read more

God’s power in our weakness

“I wonder whether the provision of MP3s of sermons of great preachers now available everywhere is in danger of creating another Corinthian problem for our churches…”

– Over at SydneyAnglicans.net, Bishop Robert Forsyth has a good point – see what he has to say here. (Download the mp3 file.)
Photo: Russell Powell.

Of Earthquakes and End Times

“When you hear of wars and rumors of wars, do not be alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come. Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be earthquakes in various places, and famines. These are the beginning of birth pains.” (Mark 13:7-8 TNIV)

Not long after the 2004 tsunami that devastated Indonesia and neighboring countries, a document was circulating on the internet, purportedly showing a dramatic rise in earthquakes in recent years and using that to fuel fervor that Christ’s return was imminent. …

– New Testament scholar Craig Blomberg puts earthquakes in their Biblical context. (Photo: Denver Seminary.)

Brothers, We are not Figure-Skaters

Tempted to go soft on proclaiming the Bible? Encouraging words in this 2’25” video clip from Phil Johnson at Grace Community Church in California.

Liverpool’s Muddy Waters flow towards Africa

“The Bishop of Liverpool, the Rt Revd James Jones, has today shown just what a liability the Church of England is becoming to the rest of the Anglican Communion. Liverpool stands to the north of the estuary of the great Mersey River, now cleansed and restored to life after the pollution of the industrial age, but its spiritual waters are being sadly muddied.

In his Presidential Address to the Liverpool Diocesan Synod, Bishop Jones argues that the Church of England and the Anglican Communion should embrace diversity and accept that those who believe homosexual relationships are morally wrong and those who believe that, within a ‘stable and faithful relationship’, they are right can enjoy a peaceful co-existence.

He is of course by no means the first bishop of the Church of England to put this argument forward, but this is a significant moment because he is a prominent evangelical. …

But what is particularly arresting about the Bishop of Liverpool’s address is its scope. It presents a vision which does not stop at the boundaries of his own diocese. His plea is ‘that the Church of England and the Anglican Communion must allow a variety of ethical views on the subject as in this Diocese we do’ and he adds ‘This is I believe the next chapter to be written in the Church of England and the Anglican Communion. It is the chapter that is already being written in our Partnership in Mission with the Diocese of Virginia and with the Diocese of Akure in Nigeria.’”

– from Charles Raven’s latest commentary (6th March 2010) at SPREAD.

Read the bishop’s Presidential Address.

See also:

Commentary from John Richardson – “Bishop James Jones and the challenge to unity”

“The number of traditionalist clergy in the Diocese of Liverpool may be large or small, but they must surely be waking up this morning with troubled consciences. The Bishop has declared not only his own position but, ostensibly, that of his diocese as being one which accepts diversity on sexuality.”

Peter Ould also weighs in – “Why James Jones is Wrong”

(Photo: Diocese of Liverpool.)

Permanence before Experience — The wisdom of Marriage

In the current Southern Cross Newspaper (March 2010 – available in Sydney churches from this Sunday), Jeremy Halcrow writes about cohabitation versus marriage (page 13).

On the same topic, Albert Mohler writes, “many young adults … do not know that what they are actually doing is undoing marriage”.

Why I am Orthodox

Would you call yourself ‘Orthodox’? Rhys Bezzant, at Ridley College in Melbourne explains why he insists on using that label for himself –

“I am an Orthodox Christian. In a place like Melbourne, calling myself Orthodox could of course easily be misunderstood: people might think I mean Greek or Russian or Serbian Orthodox. Calling myself Orthodox is however more than tracing an ecclesiological line back to Eastern Europe.  Read more

Recycled lies in time for Easter

ACL President Mark Thompson writes –

“We’ve become quite used to sensationalist denials of central Christian truths at Easter…

No surprise then that Philip Pullman should time the release of his new book The Good Man Jesus and the Scoundrel Christ (Edinburgh: Canongate, 2010) for Easter this year. …

Christians have absolutely no need to be concerned that these suggestions are being rehearsed yet again. The recent historical work of Richard Bauckham, Paul Barnett and John Dickson all demonstrate that the evidence moves entirely in the opposite direction…”

– Read Mark’s full post about the same old tired assertions.

When will Gay Couples be able to take vows in the Church of England?

“Events in England this week have underlined the wisdom of envisaging an alternative focus of leadership for the Anglican Communion. As regular readers of these articles will know, I believe that the current Archbishop of Canterbury is promoting an illusory unity which accommodates false teaching and endangers the whole Communion.

But there is another reason for calling into question the role of Canterbury and the Lambeth institutions which is not so much to do with Rowan Williams himself, but with the relentless erosion of orthodox faith in the Church of England by the deeply secularized culture of the liberal establishment…”

– Charles Raven writes at SPREAD. (Photo: Church of England.)

Backwards Christian Soldiers

“The cause for biblical Christianity took a backward step in the General Synod of the Church of England this past week, or rather exposed itself as having already departed from biblical truth and practice. The General Synod passed a motion awarding pensions to civil partners of deceased clergy…”

– Bishop Glenn Davies writes at SydneyAnglicans.net

Don’t let the facts…

“Don’t let the facts get in the way of a good story.” So goes the old saying. In Sunday’s Sun-Herald, Simon Webster writes –

“A vicar has sparked outrage in Britain by distributing a pamphlet urging women to do as their husbands tell them. Reports could not confirm whether he got his wife to deliver them for him. … Not to avoid members of the media – they would have been the least of his worries – but to steer clear of Mrs MacLeay. God only knows how she reacted when she read her husband’s musings.”

It would have been relatively easy to go to the St Nicholas’ website to hear the ‘offending’ sermons or to read this (which was posted a week ago) – The Rector of St. Nicholas’, Angus MacLeay, writes:

“On a different point another strand of headlines speak of the Rector telling women to be silent and of a leaflet written by him being distributed around the congregation in January. The reality is that I have written no leaflets, nothing has been distributed and no-one has ever told women to be silent.”

It’s worth reading both the article and the letter in their entirety, and then listening to the sermons (31 January and 14 February 2010).

And if this comes up in conversation, it’s a good opportunity to speak about the Lord Jesus, as Mark Oden does at the start of the first sermon.

Shock! Horror! Church Believes The Bible!

“At the heart of all the press coverage is the very ordinary fact that at St Nicholas Sevenoaks, as in many other evangelical churches up and down the country, we engage in an expository preaching ministry which requires both preacher and people to engage humbly with God’s word, the Bible.”

– Angus MacLeay, Rector of St Nicholas’ Sevenoaks, writes about the fuss in the UK media last week over some sermons on marriage. (h/t Anglican Mainstream.)

Falling on Deaf Ears?

“In many churches, there is almost no public reading of the Word of God. Worship is filled with music, but congregations seem disinterested in listening to the reading of the Bible.”

– Albert Mohler reflects on why so many congregations in the US aren’t all that interested in hearing the Bible.

Could the same be said for your church?

Take a hammer to your downloads!

Over at the Fervr website, Tim Yap has some godly advice for youth – though there are many adults who should hear it too.

“Let’s keep it simple: downloading ‘free’ stuff from the internet which is supposed to cost money, whether it be music, movies or games, is against the law.”

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